BREAKING NEWS! Chad Thompson (Founder/CEO)- Inferno Racing(Kenda/5-hour Energy)are merging with COMPETITIVE CYCLIST. Chad broke the news to us today in a segment we call “The Conversation”. Chad talks about processes, USA Cycling, and being shut-out of the big three races AToC, USAPro, Tour of Utah. This conversation is riveting. If you are a cycling fan or on a team listen to what Chad has to say as he makes his case for his team that led the NRC.

SPY-Swamis is looking to expand and augment its Development Team program for 2013 and is currently recruiting development (U25) riders who aspire to elevate their racing with an eye toward racing at the professional level.

The SPY-Swamis Development Team is a fully supported team with a mission to provide the support and guidance to enable SoCals best young riders to reach their full potential. [Read more…]

It’s been close to seven months of bike racing here on the So Cal Cup scene and this season has finally wound down to the last two regional races on the 2012 calendar. For many Southern California Masters racers, it’s approaching the witching hour of our season as we draw near to make the journey up to Bend, Oregon for the USA Cycling Masters National Championships. So, by virtue of this big week of racing for the right to wear the Stars and Stripes, many guys are still flying and only getting faster. The local Criterium races in the late season prove to be a great temperature check on fitness and form leading up to Nats. It’s definitely high time to tune up and fly.

Sundays’ race was held on the Carson course outside Long Beach. The course is always challenging with strong winds and a punchy climb into the final corner, finishing off with a 300+ meter straight-away to the finish line. It’s a breakaway course for sure, as it rarely comes down to a full field sprint. [Read more…]

The 2012 road cycling season is in it’s twilight and consequently Team CashCall Mortgage fielded a team of only four riders for this weekends USAC SoCal Cup Crit at Dominguez Hills. Despite showing up short handed, myself, Devan Dunn, David Santos, and Lee Muse were determined to make our mark on this race. Bolstered by the news that teammate Stefano Barberi had just won his second stage of the two day Mt. Whitney Stage Race, we set our plan of attack and what we needed to do have a successful race.

Unfortunately prior to the start of the event there was a delay due to a major crash that happened in the previous race. Although longer and harder races tend to suit our team, we were all very grateful to see such lengths being taken to ensure that the crash victims were properly cared for. I know I can speak for the entire CashCall Mortgage team when I say that we wish the downed riders a speedy recover and hope that the hospital transport was purely precautionary.

The race started with a bang and from the gun three riders jumped off the front before we even got to the first turn. I turned to Santos and we looked at each other, sharing the same thought “those poor guys are in for a rough day”, but then two more riders attacked and now we had to be represented. I bridged across to the two chasers to make three riders chasing three riders, with the whole field enjoying coffee and crumpets behind (note: this is all before half-way through the first lap!).

It took some time for the break to establish itself and ultimately only three riders came together, myself, a Sho-Air rider, and a Ben Bertinger of Stage 17. All three of us were hard working, motivated guys, that wanted to put some distance between ourselves and the field. We got a big gap early, and our time splits were closer to the back of the field than the field to us. However, once the Monster Media team realized that their rider missed out on the break, they started chasing full on. From the sidelines all I can hear is Paul ‘The Godfather’ Abrahams telling me that I have to go ‘all-in’… I start thinking to myself, aren’t I already? Sweat is pouring off me (and has been since the first lap), my kit is totally soaked through, I can’t see out my glasses because they are splattered with road grime and sweat. But this guy is telling me “more…more…more!”

At this point I really start putting my back into the break and we were going fast, but the field was still coming even though it was splitting into smaller pods due to the strong wind on course and the speed at which they were chasing. The three of us in the breakaway now had a choice. Give up and say we ‘gave it the ol’ college try’ or hold on and hope for the best. We chose the later. A small group of 10 riders came across with none other than my two teammates Dunsky and Santos. I instantly knew we were in a good position tactically. I could see everyone was hurting when the group came to us making the break briefly 13 riders. Obviously these were the most committed and motivated riders in the field at that moment, each racer wanted a chance to win. But I wasn’t willing to let up…

Immediately I yelled to Devan, “sit or roll!?” Questioning him to trim the break again or take a moment to assess the situation. He looked at me stoically and said “ROLL!!” So I attacked again, this time my boy Santos was smelling blood too and he came with me. Now it’s the two of us up the road and the chase group is in full panic mode, anyone with good legs is sensing that the opportunity for the win is closing. One strong rider tried to bridge to us, but Santos and I buried ourselves, taking monster pulls for the next two laps. Santos was going so hard I was nearly dropped on one occasion because I tried to grab a sip of water from my bottle…no dice we have work to do, water will have to wait.

Santos and I started smashing ourselves, really going deep to put the nail in the coffin for the field and take a well deserved 1-2 result, but there was still fifteen minutes of racing ahead of us…so much can change in that amount of time!

Still pushing for all the speed we could muster we hit five laps to go. There still was no guarantee we would stay away with the group of 10 yo-yoing between 15-25 seconds behind us, so we fought-on. And let me say this now, David Santos is a beast! He was going so hard it very evident he was motivated to roll that break. He was riding like a CSX freight train that had four engines, no freight, and a caboose!

We hit three laps to go and ‘The Godfather’ says “you guys got it, but keep the pressure on”. But there was no slowing down! When it is me and Santos we roll to the line. We rode harder and eventually I could finally muster enough energy to shout to Santos “we are doing this Santos and BMc style, smash it all the way to the line!” His rebuttal was simple, “you are winning and you better salute!” My reply was simple… “yes sir.”

We crossed the line 1-2 and had enough time to look back to see Devan sprinting, yes I said that right, our TT beast is so hungry for results he is sprinting like a mad man all over the road to just miss out on 3rd place, he took 4th. Dave and I ‘high-fived’ each other and waited for Devan and Lee to catch up so we could celebrate our success.

This was a big result for me, not just because any win is important but particularly because recently I had to overcome the loss of my Grandmother, a woman who helped raise me and shape me into the man I am today. It is with the thoughts of her strength and grace as she faced her cancer that I was able to fight through the emotion and stress that came with this family loss.

It must also be said that good things come in threes, or so the saying goes. So I was able to win for my CashCall Mortgage team (#1), while my wife Joy won her race, her first ‘W’ in some time (#2), a well deserved win, and all of this on the last race of the season before we go on to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary next week (#3). Good things do come in threes!

In conclusion I must say that I have continually been humbled by the presence of my teammates and their support for me despite challenges. This team and specifically Paul Abrahams have believed in me since day one and I am so thankful for their support and friendship. I am proud to have won this race for our program and put forth the effort to repay so many that have believed in me.

Thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors and supporters, results like today are rare in this sport, but with so much positivity and passion surrounding our team it makes them more probable. To everyone that sponsors and supports CashCall Mortgage Cycling Team, thank you, you are greatly appreciated.

Something truly spectacular happened on Sunday for me. I forgot my shoes. Yeah, that’s right, I brought my mountain bike shoes to the “road show” which created a bit of a gong show. Thankfully, I always travel with an adept crew of my husband Brian and buddy Brady Kiss. One of our mottos, instilled by Brian, is “Adapt and Overcome.” And that’s just what we did. By race time I had Brian’s fancy Bont kicks on my feet and clipped into his pedals on my bike. The race was at CBR, ironically the first date Brian and I ever had was to go race a CBR Long Beach event back in 2010. Yes, that was a date. And my first crit.

I would like to think his shoes catapulted me to my first win in over 2.5 years, and they just might have. It could also be that I decided to use my head and not my quads to win the event. Crits used to give me massive headaches because there is so much to think about! The turns, the tactics, the chess game. This season I have fully immersed myself into being a solid crit racer and more specifically a worker and lead out for my team, Helen’s Racing. Together, we have garnered many podiums and first place finishes which has help to make this my most rewarding season on the road so far. The only thing missing was that elusive first place finish I have thought about so much and tried for!

Brian and I travel to the races together most weekends and we like to bet each other on the results. “Dude, if I win, you have to win.” Or “C’mon! I got 3rd, you have to get better or I won’t clean your bike!” But this is always just smack talk and lets be honest, he always cleans my bike. But I pack his lunch and wash his kits.

On Sunday we didn’t even talk about it. Maybe it’s because I still had half a French Press of coffee to drink before my personality came back after racing a 6hr duo mountain bike event the day before. It could also be because it was the last race of the season and why keep pushing the issue.

Our Team Helen’s hit squad was short staffed for the race, three riders strong. With sprinter Shelby Reynolds and up and comer Emily Georgeson (who had just sprinted for the win in the women’s 3/4 race) we knew we had cards to play. Helen’s is notorious for racing hard from the gun and this day would be no different. The group also had three riders from NOW for MS and lots of motivated solo riders. The solo riders were committed to keeping the group together, as each of us Helen’s riders took our turns attacking and counter attacking. We knew if the right combo got up the road with one of us, a NOW rider, and one of the solo riders it would most likely stick. Our goal was of course to win the race and also to have Shelby Reynolds receive points.

I countered a move that Shelby had initiated and it got traction fast with the above stated perfect combo. Morgan Kapp (NOW) was with me and having followed her on a prime earlier in the race, I knew she wanted to race hard. The other two riders were Hannah Swan (Strive) and Kristobel Doebel-Hickok (Big Orange) and unfortunately for them, they had no teammates in the race. Tactically, I knew that I had two great sprinters behind us and if the break did not roll, we would still be able to solidify the win.

The four of us worked together well in the break, and I started to pay closer attention to the strong cross wind and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of my breakaway partners. Sure, watt for watt, I could probably beat one or two of them. But instead of riding myself into the ground, I decided to think. Where on the course could I rest, where was the final attack to come from and who was going to throw it down. Brian and I don’t have TV, but we have stacks of bike racing DVDs spanning three era’s. We have spent many an evening watching, rewinding, and replaying famous sprints and attacks and victories. I swear I was in a break once that was super hard and the “Chasing Legends” theme song started to play on blast in my head! This was my chance to channel all of that spatter of information and use it to my advantage and win the race!

Coming into two laps to go, Brian, Brady and my teammate Suzanne Sonye on the sidelines were stressed! I have been in breakaways twice in the last month and the best I have placed is 2nd. Brian told me to attack and trim it down but I was confident in how things would play out. Like clockwork, Morgan attacked where I thought she would. I followed her attack as we shed the other two riders and I stayed tucked on her wheel up the final climb and into the finishing straight away.

Ack! There are people here! They want me to win! I have never won before…I should have attacked earlier…But wait, I GOT THIS! I instantly shut out the mind viruses and safely held her wheel until 200 meters to go where I jumped and sprinted to the line for the win. I don’t sprint often, but that was pretty fun! Shelby won the field sprint for 5th and we were able to add yet another win to the Helen’s tally for the year.

The first thing I said to Suzanne was “I sprinted and I won!” I believed I could do it, yet it was such a surreal experience to actually pull it off! I quickly gave back Brian his lucky, sweaty shoes so he could get ready to race the P1/2 event. I said, “Brian, don’t let the house down, you gotta win.” All the while knowing that duh, on a team with multiple talented athletes, the plan could be quite different.

Brian won. In some cosmic planet alignment, both Brian and I won the elite races out of breakaways on the same day. Wearing the same shoes. We have trained hours together in the heat or spitting rain. We have collectively made extensive sacrifices to both race and work and build a life together. We are each others number one fans (not like the scary lady on Misery though…) On more occasions than not, one of us is filling the support/help/reinforcement role as the other one has had an extremely rough day at the “bike office.” To both have top honors on the day is something we will forever remember. Above the wins, though, was the extreme outpouring of support from so many facets of our lives that was and still is, completely overwhelming.

A big thank you to my rad teammates and sponsors of the Team Helen’s for all the support and for believing in me enough to give me one more shot at that step on the podium. It has truly been an amazing season, shared with an amazing team.

Over the past 18 years the Leadville Trail 100 has gone through numerous changes. It has only grown in its appeal and stature among the World’s tops racers and the masses who hope to line up with their mountain bike heroes to tackle the high mountains of Colorado and earn their coveted finishing belt buckle. The buckle carries with it the respect of fellow racers as a sign of a rider’s ability to suffer over a soul crushing race that lasts anywhere from 6.5 hours to 11 hours 59 min and 59 seconds.

The challenge is why we all line up, and the buckle is our trophy at the end. There are actually two buckles to win at Leadville. The rider who gets in less than 9 hours can expect to get what is known as the big buckle or the gold buckle. Those finishing between nine and 12 hours receive the silver buckle. [Read more…]

I’m now on Day 4,985.251 of the Plainsman’s Diet, but it feels a lot longer than that. Before sharing with you the incredible story of my diet success, I need to respond to a few questions that have been posed to me by people whose stature in my life demands an answer.

Mrs. Wankmeister: “Why you wanna be a more skinnier? It’s a already a bad elbow poking in the bed, next time soon it’s a pointy bones gonna take out my eye.” [Read more…]

Brian Mcculloch (Cash Call Cycling) won the Pro 1-2 race getting in a break that went on the first lap. When teammates Devan Dunn and David Santos came across in a small group, Dave and Brian countered and were never caught coming across the line 1-2. Kayle LeoGrande (Monster Media-MRI) won the sprint for third.